| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Have you ever given up any job opportunities because the recruiting procedures were complex? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever given up any job opportunities because the recruiting procedures were complex?".
This poll was originally submitted by Frank Wang. View the poll results »
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The big one, of course, is the test. One client wanted me to do a task that would have taken about 4 hours and got snippy when I turned down the "opportunity."
Then there are the references, which we have discussed at length.
And those endless questionnaires and database entry deals where they want to know everything but what you eat for breakfast. When I get tired answering all the questions, I just stop.
The latest was an updated confidentiality-plus agre... See more The big one, of course, is the test. One client wanted me to do a task that would have taken about 4 hours and got snippy when I turned down the "opportunity."
Then there are the references, which we have discussed at length.
And those endless questionnaires and database entry deals where they want to know everything but what you eat for breakfast. When I get tired answering all the questions, I just stop.
The latest was an updated confidentiality-plus agreement that was so restrictive that I refused to sign it. I already had a confidentiality agreement with the client, which I didn't mind, but the new agreement had other stuff in it that I thought was beyond reasonable.
[Edited at 2010-09-05 08:37 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Bureaucracy is definitely one of the worst enemies of free lance translators.
| | | | Suzan Hamer 
Netherlands
Local time: 13:00
English
+ ...
Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:
And those endless questionnaires and database entry deals where they want to know everything but what you eat for breakfast. When I get tired answering all the questions, I just stop.
I actually did complete all the rigamarole required by one agency, and even did a small job for them, but then their payment procedure was also so complicated, I just said never mind.
And take a look at this. It's the application required for a EU editing job, posted in an earlier forum thread. Apparently I was the only one who thought it was too much trouble to apply: http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:203561-2010:TEXT:EN:HTML (Just take a look at number 13).
Are they serious?
[Edited at 2010-09-05 10:35 GMT]
[Edited at 2010-09-05 10:41 GMT]
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 04:00
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam
I was asked to provide contact data of my direct clients. (You nuts? Bye-bye!)
| | | | Interlangue (X)
Angola
Local time: 13:00
English to French
+ ...
I had a framework-contract with the EU for 11 years. At the time of the next call for tenders, I was too busy working (for them!) and had no time to go through the whole procedure again (have a look at # 13 of the checklist in Suzan Hamer's link - that is only part of it all): it takes several full days to collect all the certificates and other documents, and I gave up.
[Modifié le 2010-09-05 14:51 GMT]
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And I always wonder these things:
- Do they REALLY need all this information??
- Why can't they be concise and explain in a couple bullet points what they need?
- Is it possible that they could find someone there with all these requirements?
(Just last week I saw an ad here in ProZ asking for one thousand requirements; they repeated the ad twice a day for about 4 days in a row; probably there was no-one who could match such a profile).
| | | | Theo Bernards (X)
France
Local time: 13:00
English to Dutch
+ ...
I have a simple vision on business: clients want something translated and I can deliver that translation for a reasonable fee.
I have no problem filling out a form or signing an NDA, provided the terms are not too restricting (i.e. it does allow me to work for my own clients, even if they happen to be also clients of an agency) but as soon as I am asked to provide references (no-go), samples of previous work (no-go) or client lists (definite no-go) I point to the Non-Disclosure Pri... See more I have a simple vision on business: clients want something translated and I can deliver that translation for a reasonable fee.
I have no problem filling out a form or signing an NDA, provided the terms are not too restricting (i.e. it does allow me to work for my own clients, even if they happen to be also clients of an agency) but as soon as I am asked to provide references (no-go), samples of previous work (no-go) or client lists (definite no-go) I point to the Non-Disclosure Principle on my website and that usually is the end of those questions. One client wanted me to translate an auction website and asked me to sign up on the website as a vendor (which I did), and afterward they wanted me to pay them 1 Euro via Moneybookers to make sure that I was the owner of the Moneybookers account (which nearly made me fall of my chair - good scam, by the way, how many translators fell for that one?). It is obvious how far that business relationship went: it pretty much stopped then and there.
There is testing and testing: send me a text of up to 350 words or so and I will do it, no problem. But I don't go into tests that last for hours unless I can invoice them for these hours to test their payment procedures.
And the less is said about the EU the better. It is a monster of a bureaucracy (procedures are indeed more important than results) and has in my opinion very little feeling with the society it tries to govern.
[Edited at 2010-09-05 12:34 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Nicole Schnell wrote:
I was asked to provide contact data of my direct clients. (You nuts? Bye-bye!)
"And those endless questionnaires and database entry deals where they want to know everything but what you eat for breakfast. When I get tired answering all the questions, I just stop."
double ditto
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endless questionnaires, how much do they really need? and if i have to register on a site with a password just to apply, I can't be bothered, whatever the job. How many passwords and accounts do i need? if i get accepted and they create a profile for me to pay invoices, etc, that's different. If the application process just goes on and on, I bail.
I also turned down a job recently because getting paid from that country was too complicated...it wasn't a huge amount of money and it so... See more endless questionnaires, how much do they really need? and if i have to register on a site with a password just to apply, I can't be bothered, whatever the job. How many passwords and accounts do i need? if i get accepted and they create a profile for me to pay invoices, etc, that's different. If the application process just goes on and on, I bail.
I also turned down a job recently because getting paid from that country was too complicated...it wasn't a huge amount of money and it sounded like the client was ill prepared. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 13:00
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Complicated and pointless questionnaires, bad technical organization. Promises of "big jobs" after an unpaid translation test. All these are my candidates for a waste bin.
| | | | Amy Duncan (X)
Brazil
Local time: 08:00
Portuguese to English
+ ...
After falling into that trap a couple of times early on, I now automatically turn down companies that have overly complicated requirements to become a member of their illustrious team.
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Tanja Oresnik
Slovenia
Local time: 13:00
French to Slovenian
+ ...
| Not only complex but plain weird as well | Sep 5, 2010 |
In the current outsourcers recruiting procedure for our state institutions, we are asked not only to state our direct clients and their contact details, but also the amount of money we were paid by each of them for the services provided in the past 3 years. Plus it is expected that the clients themselves fill in a special form and sign it and whatnot ... Is it just me or is this rather unusual?
Needless to say I dropped the idea of participating ... See more In the current outsourcers recruiting procedure for our state institutions, we are asked not only to state our direct clients and their contact details, but also the amount of money we were paid by each of them for the services provided in the past 3 years. Plus it is expected that the clients themselves fill in a special form and sign it and whatnot ... Is it just me or is this rather unusual?
Needless to say I dropped the idea of participating ▲ Collapse
| | | | Anna Haxen
Denmark
Local time: 13:00
Member (2005)
English to Danish
+ ...
- not to speak of those agencies, who, after you have completed all their forms and questionnaires and (you think) negotiated a reasonable price, begin sending you job offers, and, when you confirm your availability, write to say that the price they are offering for this particular job is a fraction of what they agreed to originally ...
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would i supply information on clients and how much they pay me!
I also find that a lot of the time, the more information they require (to be part of their illustrious team) the less likely I am to ever even hear from them. I'm a translator, i'm not applying to CSIS.
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